Checking-in with…
Nichola Smith, co-founder (with Petra Barran), House of Steam
This month, we got hot and steamy with the very cool Nikki in the stunning woodland saunas she has just opened with her business partner and friend Petra Barren. The pair first met at a festival 15 years ago when both were pioneers of the street food community. Describing herself as “a green fingered nature lover that got side tracked for 25 years, now coming back home!”, Nikki’s CV reads like the who’s-who of what’s hot – literally! DJ, chef, and an early pioneer of the mobile sauna movement, she certainly seems to thrive in heated working environments! So, her full circle return to nature, focusing on the healing powers of its heat, makes perfect sense.
Nikki’s early career in London saw her working in event production and music, promoting club nights and DJs with the likes of Boy George, and creating some of Kiss FM’s large-scale events. This culminated in the co-founding of the legendary night club and record label Fabric in Farringdon with her good friend Keith Reilly.
In the early 2000’s she relocated to Mallorca where she started her first food business in a small portside restaurant. After a 2-year stint working back in the UK as a chef for the prestigious Caprice Holdings, Nikki launched Healthy Yummies in 2009 as one of the founding members of the street food community. Combining marketing, promotional and music background with a strong passion for ‘honest food’, this was delivered to the public in a theatrical style out of her van ‘Elvira May’. The business quickly expanded and Elvira May was soon joined by a fleet of kitchens on wheels, catering for thousands of cast and crew daily for large US film productions. She recalls one of her favourite shoots was on location in Edinburgh for Marvel’s “The Avengers”, working nights; “we were upside down inside out, but the laughs and comradery was sublime! I could write a book with the stories but what goes on tour…”
Nikki not only continued with this until 2023, but also (in 2013) co-produced her first TV series, “Red, Hot and Yummy” on the food network. This 13-part fly on the wall series followed her around catering out of her 7.5-tonne kitchen truck (Theo, which she also could drive!) feeding photo shoots, commercials, TV Shows (eg The Voice), and Paris Fashion Week.
Having met Petra through their shared passion for street food, the pair spent a lot of time together in Mexico where they both fell in love with the Temazcal, a traditional Mesoamerican sweat lodge used for cleansing mind, body and spirit. In 2017 Nikki built one in her back garden and ran workshops, a prescient test for things to come. As Nikki describes, she “became obsessed with the idea of building a Temazcal on wheels. When I discovered the mobile sauna community in the UK it was a light bulb moment…. So, in 2023 I moved down to Battle and Petra and I started our research. We spent time in Estonia where our sauna was built. We hung out with witches deep in the Estonian forest, spent hours in their traditional smoke saunas ‘purging’ and ridding ourselves of the additional unnecessary layers that we gain along the way. Leaving as shining new pennies and feeling a lot lighter.”
Aware that most of the mobile saunas are on beaches, Nikki and Petra always knew theirs had to be in a forest where you could melt under the canopy of the trees surrounded by nature. They lucked out when they found kindred spirits in Architects Holiday at Great Park Farm in Battle and moved their beautiful spruce and aspen-shingled sauna, which was custom-built in Estonia, into the space in March this year. There it joined its striking, angular, red counterpart – one more insular, the other, with its wide windows, more outward looking. Both have outdoor showers and plunge pools and limitless cold water on tap. House of Steam just launched on June 28th, so hurry up and get in with the hot crowd! For more information and how to book your private or group session go to:
What brings you to The George?
The temptation of the roaring open fire visible from the street on a winter’s day… So dreamy and heart-warming.
When I finally made the move to Rye Harbour in September last year, Petra and I excitedly met up at The George to have a conversation over oysters (as you do) about our new collaboration, House of Steam.
As we indulged from our window seats, soaking up the atmosphere it brought on a sense of nostalgia; we found our conversation drifting away from the sauna and reminiscing about our years of friendship and working together.
Petra and I met at Camp Bestival around 2010, both free wheelers, flogging our wares to the hungry people on the streets of London. Petra served all things chocolate from her van,Jimmy, including her ‘under the counter’ chocolate martinis.
My signature dish was dived scallops served in the shell with celeriac puree, old spot bacon and seashore vegetables, served from my beloved Bedford Ice cream van, Elvira May. I’d call out “It’s all a load a scallops!” and explain “its like being wrapped up in a cashmere blanket and having a pinch on the bum by Johnny Depp to boot”!! Little did I know at that time that I’d be cooking for Johnny on film sets later in life.
List 3 things you won’t leave home without?
Noki & Beau, my two dreamboat Border Collie blue merles. They’re brothers and almost 3 years old. They’ve never left my side. Beau’s the Mummy’s boy and protector, Noki the comedian – endless love and laughs.
We enjoy mammoth hikes together, swimming with the seals at the nudist beach in Fairlight and regular trips to North Wales. The boys also help teach me about plants. I often study the various grasses and leaves they consume; it helps me understand their needs and how very clever they are!
My secateurs!!! I have secateurs stuffed in every bag at the ready for when I find a tree or plant I can use to make whisks for the sauna.
What is your earliest hotel memory?
Going to Camp De Mar in Mallorca with Elvira May, my grandmother whom I later named my street food van after, and my Grandad. I must have been around 7 years old. Back then the bay was very peaceful and tranquil. A pretty restaurant on a tiny island in the middle of the bay that you got to via a foot bridge from the beach. I remember this time with a 70’s sepia lens, so romantic and innocent. Elvira bought me a white embroidered dress that made me feel like the bees knees!
What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
The aesthetics and crispy white sheets. I want to gush about every detail, the small things. It might be the curve of a wooden banister, the linen drapes swaying in the wind, hand-made tiles, a filmic moment in time that is unforgettable.
What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
I don’t watch much TV, but do get into a good doc. Right now I’m enjoying ‘Human’ by paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi, a new series mapping human evolution across 300,000 years and how, with the help of the latest discoveries and technology we learn that our story is stranger and more surprising than we ever imagined. Ella’s passion for her field really comes across and has you locked in. I absolutely love it and her!
My reading these days has moved away from food and nutrition to plants and hedonism! I normally have a few on the go at one time…. Currently:
“Wainright’s Coast to Coast Walk”, by Alfred Wainwright. A route for walkers from St Bees Head on the Irish Sea ending 190 miles later at Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Sea crossing the Lake District, Pennines and the North Yorkshire Moors. I’m constantly planning to do this walk with my boys.
North Coast 500 – A detailed account of one of the best road trips in the world. 500 Miles of the North Scotland coast. This will be my next tour biking trip!
“Ultimate Cycling Trips:World” by Andrew Bain – Andrew has hand-picked more than 35 of the best cycling trips around the world.
“The Complete Herbal Handbook for the dog and cat” by Juliette De Baïracli Levy – WHAT A WOMAN!!! First published in 1955, it was tricky getting my hands on a copy of this book, but now I wouldn’t live without it. After studying veterinary medicine at university, she realised that modern medicine was harming animals. She then left the UK to study herbal medicine in Europe, Turkey, North Africa, Israel and Greece with Romani nomadic people.
And finally. one that I was advised not to mention is “The Humanure Handbook” by Joseph Jenkins 😀. In a constant quest to live off-grid, this is another string to that bow.
I listen to a huge range of music 24/7. I constantly make playlists, mostly a reaction to a feeling or experience, it’s my way of expressing myself.
I might start the day off with something relaxing and easy:
Cellomano’s “Gratitude”, Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight “, and Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédie”.
Moving into “Manha De Carnival (Part 2)” by Antônio Carlos Jobim & Luiz Bonfá, “Benediction And Dream” by Lila Downs, “Paloma Negra” by Chavela Vargas, “Cumbia Sobre el Mar”” by Trio Serenata.
Songs like “Abatina by Calypso Rose, “Springtime of The Year “by Kacy & Clayton, “Aunt Dina’s Quilting Party” by Floyd County Ramblers and “Dance & Dingolay” by Denise Belfon all get me singing out loud and dancing around the kitchen.
Too much to mention, my God!
There is an artist that is particularly blowing me away at the moment called Joshua Idehen. He’s a poet. I think the music production is tight and his messaging is so on point right now. Tracks like ‘Learn to Swim’ (his kindness melts my heart), ‘All You Can Do Is Try’ and ‘Mum Does the Washing’. I haven’t managed to see him live yet, but it’s on the list!
Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
I’m afraid I can’t tell you that one!
What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
I’m the spreadsheet packer. I have a list, so generally don’t forget anything BUT when I cycled from Windsor to Cornwall a few years ago, the name of the game was going light. It was September, and I was expecting rain so I found an original Mary Quant poncho that packed away – it was too heavy to take but it looked so cool…. It didn’t rain and I had to reluctantly lose it.
Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
I think the artist I mentioned earlier, Joshua Idehen. I’d love to hear his story, sipping a beautiful glass of red next to the fire at The George. He’s such an inspiration and good soul.
What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
Magnesium foot spray!
My secret Rye discovery is…
Foraging in Rye Harbour – the edible plant life is abundant here. With help from Andre my wonderful neighbour and forager Dave I can now identify so many. There’s no need to buy any greens anymore, it’s all on my doorstep – what a gift!
All of which I now use at House of Steam sauna, each of them teaming with the minerals we lose when sweating. I love to see people trying them and discussing the flavour notes. It makes me really happy.
